Never in all my years could I remember being up this early on a Sunday, it was barely past nine.

Looking up, the early morning sun did nothing to relax the inner turmoil that was swimming around my guts.

Normally, I loved Sundays; it was the only day of the week when I relaxed, sleeping in till noon and later in the evening I would let him out and go running and hunting in the woods.

But not today.

No, this morning I was sitting outside with a mug of strong coffee in one hand and in my other was my mobile phone. Staring at it, in the hope it would ring.

Well, I'll correct that, hoping Sage would call or message me.

Again I had to question who the fuck was I turning into?

But I already knew the answer to that question.

I had been up half the night, checking my phone like some fucking lovesick teenager and I didn't like it. This feeling of not knowing what the fuck was going on was unsettling. And on top of that—I had never sat around waiting for a woman to call me...Ever!

But here I was. Sat staring at the phone in my hand, willing it to fucking ring.

I'm fucking pussy-whipped.

Activating my phone... again, I re-read her last message. She was heading out to see her grandfather and would call me after her meeting with him. I thought it was strange she used the word 'meeting' as I had never had meetings with my family–visits, yeah but a meeting?

That sounded official, cold almost...odd maybe? But definitely weird.

But that had been yesterday, and she still hadn't called or messaged me. I had texted her again last night before I went to bed.

My gut churned, as I pushed down this feeling of doubt that had taken up residence.

Was she okay?

Was the problem she needed to sort out related to her grandfather–Charles Du-Ponte? The one Ruth seemed pretty freaked out about yesterday.

And the same reason my brother was flying back across the Atlantic for, as we speak.

What if it was, and he didn't approve of our relationship? Would she end what we had only just started?

I felt sick, something was off, something didn't feel right.

Taking a drink of my coffee I tried to put everything into perspective—which was fucking hard, as I'd never been in this position before. Which wasn't surprising as I hadn't gone past two dates with the same woman.

Sage was the first woman ever that I wanted something more with, a relationship.

Re-la-tion-ship.

The word sounded foreign in my head. I had never had one, so I had nothing to compare it with. I'd never wanted one before and although I didn't understand it—the pull I felt towards her was undeniable, every inch of me craved her and not just sexually, I had meant it when I told her I wanted all of her, the whole fucking package.

My wolf grumbled. Yeah, I know pal, me too.

My head shot up from my phone as I heard the chair opposite me being dragged on the concrete floor. It was Gunner.

"Mornin' boss," he said as he sat his bulking frame down.

How the fuck he got in the house was beyond me—but I wasn't shocked. He also had a mug of something hot in his hand.

Help yourself, why don't you?

"Gunner," I said, putting my phone back down on the table, face down.

He rested his left foot on his right knee, blowing over the top of his drink before he slurped it, noisily. Fucking hell, who had dragged him up? Pigs had more manners, his mother must be so proud.

I sighed. "What do you have for me?" I didn't feel like talking about the suicides happening in the London Packs as I honestly didn't give a shit.

But it was my job to know these things and at least it would distract me.

He took his time slurping another sip of his drink. My patience was wearing thin.

"I've spoken to them all boss," he said, a smug look plastered across his face.

"And?" I resisted a sigh.

He took another slurp of his drink. "Well as far as I can tell on the surface of the problem, none of them appeared depressed or had any shit going on in their lives that their Alpha's knew about. I looked into every potential lead and none of them had any reason to kill themselves. I'm startin' to think there might be somethin' more to it Boss, although—" He stopped.

"Although what?" Fucking hell, it was like getting blood out of a stone.

"They all did become a little secretive, in the weeks leading up to their deaths. And from the clues I pieced together—they'd all met a wolf." He paused raising his eyebrows.

"So?" I asked, not seeing the connection.

"Every Alpha reported before their deaths they seemed happy and when I say happy boss—a little too fucking happy if you know what I mean."

Happy people didn't kill themselves.

He chuckled to himself before continuing. "So I'm thinking they were all 'avin a bit on the side. And from chatting to all their mates—which I can tell you now if I was mated to any them bitches then I would be fuckin' around too. Not one of them was half decent, if you know what I'm sayin' Boss."

I knew what he meant, but fuck me, Gunner here was no oil painting—that's for fucking sure.

"Go on..." I prompted him.

He leant back in his chair. "I'm thinking it's the same wolf?"

It amazed me how Gunner found out this shit, no doubt he would be the fucker who found that needle in the haystack. "Have you found this wolf?"

He raised his eyebrow as if to say I asked the dumbest question known to man. "No one knows who she is."

Something didn't quite add up, my gut told me that. "So that's it? They were all fucking around behind their mates' backs?"

None of it made sense.

Could their mates have killed them?

I'd never heard of a mated wolf killing their supposed soulmate. Not that I believed in that shit. But that aside. It wasn't the way things were done. Although being unfaithful wasn't done as a rule—it happened on the quiet.

"So you don't have much for me. Can you give me anything to say it's the same wolf?" From what I could tell, her standards were pretty low.

He smirked but I was distracted by my cell phone vibrating on the table. I couldn't contain the rush of excitement. I was sure it would have been Sage texting. I picked it up only to be flooded with disappointment.

It was from my brother. Fuck!

Putting my phone back down. I looked up to see Gunner looking pleased with himself – grinning that fucking psychotic grin of his.

I continued. "So... so far you've given me fuck all." I sighed. "And you don't know who this wolf might be?"

I clenched my teeth, quickly becoming bored. I didn't want to be sat here any longer listening to Gunner talk about wolves and some mystery wolf they might or might not have been fucking on the QT.

I wanted to ring Sage and check she was okay... that we were okay.

"Blue eyes, boss."

"What about blue eyes."

"Every one of them was asking if anyone had ever seen a wolf with blue eyes." Gunner grinned, his creepy fucking smirk lifted his top lip allowing his fang to poke out. "Sound like a coincidence to you, boss?"

My heart dropped through my stomach, past my balls and hit the floor with a thud.

Blue eyes.

I had only ever met one wolf with blue eyes... Sage.

I gulped as the colour drained from my face. Gunner saw it too as his eyebrows furrowed, watching me carefully as picked up his mug and he took another drink.

I swallowed hard and tried to look casual, unfazed by what he said. "Bullshit... Blue? Sounds like something you'd read in a teenager's fantasy book about werewolves."

I could feel my heart beat... every single pound in my chest.

Gunner shrugged his shoulders.

My temperature rose. "Let's not turn this into some fucking hunt for a mystical blue-eyed wolf... yeah? I would stake a grand they were lying or fucking high. And let's face facts here—none of the poor dead bastards were trustworthy."

I was babbling shit now as Blue eyes kept repeating in my head.

I needed to see Sage or at the very least talk to her. "And if they were all fucking the same wolf—you're suggesting another wolf killed all these betas and made it look like suicide?"

Gunner rolled his eyes at me.

Cheeky fucking bastard.

"I'm not saying she had anything to do with their deaths boss, I mean you're right—how can a wolf get another wolf to kill themselves? But I'm gonna need to check into it, and see if I can track her down. Listen to her side of the story and if nothing else, see these blue eyes they're talking about."

Fucking hell.

"Got any leads?" I asked, throat burning, dreading his next words.

"Yeah actually I do. You know that cocky beta... arsehole from the West Side Pack? Barry what's his fuckin' name... He has been talking about seeing a blue-eyed wolf. I overheard him bragging about it." He tutted as his top lip curled. "Irritating bastard that one. But I'll keep tabs on the wanker. Follow him and see where it takes me. It may be nothing... but if it leads to our mystery wolf— then I can ask a few questions."

I could feel the sweat prickle on the back of my neck. Barry Lyons, that fucker from the charity event on Friday, I had watched him smile at her.

I had wanted to smash his smug fucking face into the wall.

Nah, it wasn't possible, was it? Was Sage involved with him? With any of the pack members?

I didn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it.

There had to be another explanation. There had to be another wolf with blue eyes. Hell if one had it, then surely there had to be another out there with the same colour eyes?

Then why the fuck did my gut scream. No!